Journal Articles Archive - Page 20 of 233 - Channel Islands Specialists’ Society

Member Profiles

This Journal sees the publication of the next in a series of profiles of Society Members which, it is hoped, might serve to introduce Members to others in the Society, perhaps facilitating Members seeking contact with others who share their particular collecting interests. Over time, such profiles give Members a better understanding of the collecting habits within the Society which, in turn, can help the Executive better focus events and other Member services to Members’ wants and needs.

The Member profiles are based on a standard template of questions answered by the Member concerned, the end product of which would have the feel of a mini interview.

The initial focus of the profiles is on those Members who have thirty or more years of membership, leading possibly to the publication of a brochure, in connection with the Society’s 75th Anniversary in 2025, of the Society’s 75 longest-serving Members.

The fourth profile to be published is that of our Chairman, David Winnie, FRPSL, who has served the Society for some years in various roles including that of Chairman firstly in 1999 -2003, so well experienced for the same role today with so much importance on moving our IT capabilities forward in this digital age

Members for whom a profile is proposed to be completed will be contacted at the appropriate time by the Executive.

Secretary’s Clipboard

Despite the threat of a national rail strike, the September Member’s Meeting was able to proceed as planned, with fourteen members attending the Royal Philatelic Society London, and a further four members joining the afternoon’s session via Zoom. Thanks must go to both Bryan Elliston and Gerald Marriner for providing the display material. In keeping with the committee’s desire to provide further Zoom sessions for members to join in, it is anticipated that a similar event will take place for the September 2024 Member’s Meeting.

For those members wishing to attend the 2024 Member’s Weekend meeting (19th – 21st April) at Salisbury, you should find enclosed with this journal a booking form for the event. For those members who receive an electronic copy of the journal the booking form should be attached with the journal. If not, contact secretary@ciss.uk for a copy.

Preparations are now forging ahead for the 2024 Member’s Competition Day, so why not join in the fun and enter one or more of the competition classes. Full details of how to enter are available on the Society’s website at www.ciss.uk, login with your username or email address and password and then click on ‘Competitions’, where you will find a copy of the rules and an entry form. Also see page 6 in this Journal for details too.

Finally, on behalf of the committee members may I wish you all a happy Christmas and peaceful New Year.

Forthcoming meetings for 2024

10th February 2024 Member’s Competition Day

19th – 21st April 2024 Member’s Weekend Meeting at Salisbury

6th July 2024 Annual General Meeting

All meetings, unless stated otherwise, are held at the Royal Philatelic Society London, 15, Abchurch Lane, London, EC4N 7BW commencing at 11.00am, with tea and coffee available from 10.30am in the Member’s Lounge. For further information visit www.ciss.uk

73rd Annual General Meeting Minutes

Held at the Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL), 15, Abchurch Lane, London and via Zoom on Saturday, 8th July 2023 commencing at 14.00 BST.

Members present: The Chair was taken by David Winnie with 22 other members present including 9 members joining via Zoom. Members who joined the AGM via Zoom came from Jersey, Guernsey, Austria, India, USA + 4 members from the UK.
Apologies

Apologies were received from David Ackroyd, Julian Bagnall, Henri Cartier, Andrew Chappell, David Gurney, Mike Moody, Alan Moorcroft, Hayden Moorcroft, Tom Norgate, Brian Sole and Alan Whittaker.

3. Confirmation of Minutes of the 72nd Annual General Meeting held Saturday, 9th July 2022 at the RPSL and via Zoom

It was proposed by Ron Osborne and seconded by Mark Bailey that the Minutes of the 72nd Annual General Meeting as published be accepted as a true record. By a show of hands the proposal was passed unanimously.

4. Matters arising from these Minutes

4.1: South of England CISS Member’s Regional Meeting

Richard Flemming provided those members present with a verbal report on the meeting as provided by Alan Whittaker and it is hoped that a meeting will be held in 2024. Nick Stuart wished to record the Society’s thanks to Alan for arranging the meeting and this was fully endorsed by those members present.

5. President’s report

David Laurillard, provided members present with a verbal report as to his first year as CISS President, highlighting the success of the CISS journal Les Iles Normandes and recent advances made with the Society’s website. The President continued his report by thanking the members of the CISS Committee for their dedication to the Society and its members.

6. Officers’ Reports

6.1: Chairman’s report

David Winnie provided an update to his Chairman’s Report to the one that appears on the CISS website, in particular in relation to the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the CISS in 1950. The Chairman explained that the desire is for the 2025 Member’s Weekend to be held in the Channel Islands, explaining that initial inquiries were being made as to a preferred location. The Chairman also asked those members present if they had any preferences to location and options were offered. It was agreed that these options would be looked into so as to determine the best option going forward.

David Winnie then provided an update on the Digitising and Searchable Journal project, highlighting the excellent progress being made. He explained how all the volumes from 13.1 onwards were now searchable on the website using keywords. The aim is that all volumes from Volume 1.1 onwards will be available to view. Currently, Volumes 9.1 onwards are now available to view on the website, with Volumes 1.1 – 12.4 only requiring keywording. David Winnie expressed this thanks to all those committee members who have been involved in the project to date and especially to Nick and to Ed Martin who have been involved in scanning and digitising the journals into a PDF format.

6.2: Secretary’s Report

Richard Flemming reported that his annual report had been made available for members to view on the CISS website and that he had nothing further to add to his statement. There were no questions for Richard by those members present.

6.3: Treasurer’s Report

Bryan Elliston provided those members present with a brief overview of his written report that is to be found on the CISS website, highlighting the current strength of the Society’s finances.

Bryan Elliston then provided statements of the independently reviewed Income and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet for the year ending 31st December 2022. David Winnie proposed that the account statements as presented be accepted as a true record. The proposal was seconded by Gerald Marriner and by a show of hands the accounts as presented were approved unanimously. There were no questions for Bryan from the floor.

David Winnie, on behalf of the CISS membership, thanked Bryan for his sterling efforts in managing the Society’s accounts.

6.4: Membership Secretary’s report

Mark Bailey has provided members with an overview of the current CISS membership, the full report being available on the CISS website. As of 22nd June 2023 the CISS membership stood at 236, which included six institutions who receive the Society’s journal. This is a drop of six members from the 2022 figure. There were no questions from the floor.

6.5: Auctioneer’s report

Nick Stuart provided a brief overview of the success of recent Society auctions and indicated that his full Auctioneer’s report was available to view on the CISS website. On a personal note, he wished to thank Gerald Marriner for his support in preparing the auction, including the describing and writing-up of the auction lists that goes out to the membership.

6.6 Packet Secretary’s report

Attending via Zoom, John Triggs informed those members present that his annual report was available to view on the CISS website. John also indicated that he was amalgamating the six Channel Islands postcard packets with the six UK packets, so having twelve postcard packets in the one circuit. John stated that he is always wanting more material from the CISS membership to go into the packets for circulation. There were no questions for John from the floor.

6.7: Press and Advertising Officer’s report

Steve Wells provided a brief overview, but indicated that his full report was available to view on the Society’s website. There were no questions for Steve from the floor.

The Chairman thanked Steve for his sterling efforts in promoting the Society, not only in the philatelic press, but also in the Jersey and Guernsey press.

6.8: Competition Secretary’s report

Nick Martin stated that his annual report was available to view on the CISS website and he had nothing further to add. There were no questions for Nick.

7. Ex-officio Officers’ reports

7.1: Archivist

Mark Bailey reported that he continues to add the Les Iles Normandes and the Jersey and Guernsey Stamp Bulletins to the archives, otherwise it has been a quiet year. There were no questions for Mark.

7.2: Book sales

Richard Flemming provided a report on the last twelve months’ activities regarding book and sundry sales. He also provided details of the current book and sundry stock held. There were no questions for Richard.

8. Amendment to Rule 8(d) – previously circulated

Nick Martin proposed that Agenda items 8, 9 and 10 regarding the amendments to Society Rules 8(d), 8(e) and 9 be approved as recommended by the Executive and Full Committee en bloc.The proposal was seconded by Mark Bailey and by a show of hands the motion was carried unanimously. The proposal to approve the amendments to Society Rules 8(d), and 8(e) and 9 en bloc as proposed was then put to the floor and by a show of hands the motion was carried unanimously.

9. Amendment to Rule 8(e) – previously circulated. See Agenda item 8 above.

10. Amendment to Rule 9 – previously circulated. See agenda item 8 above.

11. Dates for Members’ meetings for 2024

Richard Flemming reported that the date for Members Meetings during 2024 will be appearing in Les Iles Normandes and on the Society’s website. He also confirmed that he had made room bookings with the RPSL for 2025.

12. Election of Officers

At this point, David Winnie, Chairman, stood down and David Laurillard, President, took the chair. David Winnie stated that he was willing to continue as Chairman for a further twelve months. Seeing that there was no other nominee proposed, the President duly proposed that David Winnie be elected as the Chairman of the CISS until the 2024 Annual General Meeting. The proposal was seconded by Richard Flemming and by a show of hands, David Winnie was elected unanimously to serve as Chairman until the next Annual General Meeting

Election of other CISS Committee members.

Richard Flemming, Secretary, declared that all current CISS committee members were prepared to stand in their current committee positions until the next Annual General Meeting and had been properly proposed and seconded as per Society rules. Seeing that there were no further nominees coming forward Gerald Marriner proposed that the remaining CISS committee positions be voted in en bloc. This proposal was seconded by Ron Osborne, and by a show of hand it was agreed unanimously that all current CISS committee members be re-elected to their current committee positions until the next Annual General Meeting.

13. Update on the Member’s Weekend Meeting 2024 at the Milford Hall Hotel, Salisbury.

David Winnie was pleased to announce that he had secured the booking at the Milford Hall Hotel, Salisbury for the 2024 Members’ Weekend Meeting which will be held from the 19th – 21st April. Details for room bookings, etc. will be released later in the year.

14. Any other business

14.1 Peter Viscusi asked if it was likely that relatives/next of kin actually knew the value of a member’s collection(s) or how to value them. The general consensus was that it was unlikely that they would. Nick Martin then highlighted the importance of keeping appropriate records of their collection(s) and ensure that there are clear instructions regarding their disposal. Guidance for our members is to be considered going forward.

Action point: The Executive Committee to consider how to take this forward at their next meeting.

14.2: Richard Flemming read out the content of two emails he had received from CISS members. The first thanking those members involved in the Guernsey Member’s Weekend and making it such a success. The second email thanked the CISS committee members for their efforts on behalf of the membership to make the CISS the success that it is.

14.3 Ron Osborne also wished to thank the CISS committee members for their efforts over the past twelve months, but also wished to especially thank David Gurney for his work in producing the journal, and to Nick Stuart for managing the auctions.

14.4 Joan Flood Salver

The Chairman was pleased to announce that Roger Harris had been awarded the Joan Flood Salver for his book Delivered by the Hotels’ Care and Roger was duly presented with the salver.

15. Date of the 74th Annual General Meeting: Saturday, 6th July2024 at the RPSL and via Zoom.

Forthcoming New Issues for 2023

Early Incoming Mail to Sark

Foreign mail incoming into the Channel Islands does not appear to be a popular area to collect. However I illustrate above an unusual recent acquisition. This is a scarce postal stationery card from the Belgian Congo addressed to Mr Toplis in Sark, (Fig. 1). This card was posted in 1897. At that time the territory was referred to as ‘The Independent State of Congo’. This was posted from the small town of Albertville (now called Kalemie) which is situated on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. The Post Office in Albertville only opened in 1896. The card was forwarded to Leopoldville, a distance of 2,200 Km. A transit datestamp was applied in blue to the reverse of the card (Fig 2). This was then transported along the River Congo to Boma which was then the capital of Congo. A transit datestamp for Boma can be seen on the front of the card (Fig. 1).

The journey from Albertville to Boma took ten weeks. The card was then taken by sea to Lisbon. (Fig 3) shows part of the Lisbon transit datestamp applied to the reverse of the card. I presume this card was then taken by ship to Southampton and from Southampton to Guernsey. The final journey was from Guernsey to Sark. What an amazing journey.

Further Members’ Displays at the Guernsey Weekend 2023

Further to the June issue of Les Iles Normandes, here are the titles of displays shown at the meeting. Richard Flemming –The German Occupation of Alderney 1940-45, Ron Brown – Uniform 1d Post; Mike Moody – Liberation ephemera, Trevor du Feu – Early CI postal history, Brian Sole – Jersey Europa sheets, Gerald Marriner – Sark Hotels, Roger Harris – Delivered to the Hotel’s Care, John Triggs – CI Instructional handstamps, David Laurillard – A trip around Jersey using postcard views, whilst Bob MacDonald’s display was titled Jersey potatoes. Finally, Nick Stuart, showed a large photo of the wrecked weighbridge at Guernsey following German bombing.

And a display given by Gerald Marriner following the 2023 AGM by Richard Flemming

Gerald’s comprehensive display began with early manuscript marks. These included ‘Missent to Guernsey’ and ‘Missent to Jersey’. A section on Jersey postage due markings followed. Initially the surcharge was added to the cover in manuscript. Examples of manuscript ‘1’ and ‘2’ surcharges were shown from the 1870’s. A large 1d handstamp was introduced in the 1880’s. There was an example on an 1885 cover. A ‘2d 409’ in an oval frame was introduced in 1883. An example of this scarce surcharge mark was shown on a 1896 cover addressed to the Great Western Railway in Weymouth. Gerald then displayed a selection of covers from 1902 to the 1960’s with a variety of unframed surcharge handstamps beginning with a 1902 item with a 1d 409 surcharge. These included the scarce 2½dand 3½d handstamps seen on underpaid mail from overseas. A section on ‘More to Pay’ marks followed.

Sark underpaid mail was included in this display, including a scarce underpaid card from Guernsey to Sark. This received a 1d 324 surcharge mark in Guernsey. On arrival in Sark, a 1d postage due stamp was affixed cancelled with a Sark datestamp for 1914 – the first year of use of English postage due stamps. Underpaid mail to and from overseas completed the display.

Early mail from Jersey to Portugal – an update

Following on from my article in the previous edition of Les Iles Normandes I have recently acquired another item in this correspondence. This was posted in Jersey on 7 March 1865 and is illustrated above as Fig. 5. In my previous article I illustrated an underpaid cover posted in November 1866 shortly after the rate had increased from 4d to 6d. Fig 5 shows an entire posted in 1865 at the then correct rate of 4d. The packet ship rate to Portugal was 4d per ¼oz. between July 1859 and July 1866. This was forwarded via London where a transit datestamp for 9 March was applied in red. It was then routed to Southampton from where the letter was taken by packet ship to Lisbon. Fig 5a shows the transit datestamp for Lisbon, dated 13 March 1865. However, I believe this letter weighed over ¼ oz and was underpaid. The 80 (Reis) handstamp was a surcharge mark applied in Lisbon. The letter was then forwarded to Oporto where it received a datestamp for 14 March Fig. 5b.

The Irish Legation in Paris at 8 Place Vendome, Paris

Paris was occupied on 14th June 1940, one month after the German Wehrmacht had stormed into France. Eight days later, France signed an armistice, and a puppet French state was set up in Vichy. The German authorities immediately ordered all foreign diplomats to leave Paris and so the official Irish Legation duly followed the French government to Vichy.

Minister for Ireland,

Count Gerald O’Kelly de Gallagh et Tycooly

A “likeable rogue” and renegade, Count Gerald O’Kelly de Gallagh et Tycooly, from Tipperary, had been involved with setting up the first Irish diplomatic mission in Paris in 1919 and was minister plenipotentiary in Paris from 1929 until 1935, when he was forced from his post as part of a shabby De Valera / Sien Féin purge of pro Anglo-Irish Treaty members of the diplomatic corps.

To soften the blow, Count O’Kelly was given the title “special counsellor” and it was under this ambiguous, semi-official designation that he remained in Paris during the early part of the Occupation to represent Irish interests in Paris and the occupied territories of France when the official members of the Irish Legation moved to Vichy.

Count O’Kelly’s Consular Services

Defying German and Vichy French instructions, Count O’Kelly ran his “consular services” out of the premises of his wine company, Vendôme Vines, at 8 Place Vendome. He issued Irish passports to Irish people with British passports, and regularly visited the appalling Internment camp for British civilians at Besançon to liberate any Irish citizens wrongly incarcerated.

The Legation d’Irlande Consular Mail Service – July 1940 to mid 1941.

Count O’Kelly also ran a Consular Mail Servicefor correspondents in Ireland who thought it safer to send messages intended for the occupied parts of France and the occupied Channel Islands, via the Paris Legation d’Irlande, rather than direct through the post.

When Count O’Kelly de Gallagh maintained his Consular mail service, he endorsed the back of the envelopes with a name for the correspondence and the address of his quasi “Legation d’Irlande” at 8 Place Vendome.

A Legation d’Irlande Consular envelope with a message from Ireland, postmarked on 21 February 1941 with a Paris machine cancel and addressed to Mons. W.H. Darby, Ommaroo Hotel, has been redirected to 29 Pierson Rd.

The name on the back of the envelope identifying the correspondence is “d’Esterre Darby”

and the return address is

the Legation d’Irlande.

Back of the envelope:

Sent from the

Legation d’Irlande,

8 Place Vendome

Paris

The envelope has been censored and sealed in Paris with a dumb brown tape and red Dienststielle Feldpost

Nr. 21476 B censor cachet.

Count O’Kelly’s Continuing Mail Service from mid 1941 to ?

The front of a Count O’Kelly Consular envelope (no longer Legation d’Irlande) with a message from Ireland, postmarked on 9 JUIL 41 with a Paris machine cancel. (Note inverted year slug!)

Count O’Kelly was left to his own devices, working unhindered until mid 1941 when the Germans finally insisted that his “Paris Legation d’Irlande” should be shut, but there is evidence that he continued his mail service between Ireland and the Channel Islands endorsing envelopes with his own name and address rather than “Legation d’Irlande” as illustrated by this letter.

The back of the envelope sent to Jersey on 9 July 1941, after Count O’Kelly was forced to close down his Paris Legation d’Irlande, bears similar endorsements as previous Legation envelopes, but now his name replaces the “Legation d’Irlande” title in the address:

de Mons. H. d’Esterre Darby

c/o Le Comte O’Kelly de Gallagh

8 Place Vendome 8 Paris.

This letter reached Jersey without encountering German censorship; perhaps this was because it no longer carried the endorsement “Legation d’Irlande”.

The Conundrum of the correspondence name on backs of both letters.

Count O’Kelly has endorsed both letters “d’Esterre Darby” even though only the addressee of the first envelope is a Darby family member, W.H. Darby, while the second is Miss J. Donchex; both living at 29 Pierson Rd. St Helier. Sir Henry D’Esterre Darby was an Admiral in the Royal Navy (1750-1823) at the time of Nelson, living at Leap Castle, Roscrea, the family home since 1649. No Darby family member used the name “d’Esterre” in the 20th Century and the family moved to England in 1922 after Leap castle was burnt down. I wonder if the correspondent’s name on the back of the envelope is a code of the sender, or Count O’Kelly de Gallagh’s attempt to confuse the Germans.

Count O’Kelly’s other War Work

Count O’Kelly was pro-British even though at least 70% of his wine clients were Germans, including Herman Goëring!

He ran an escape route to Spain for downed British airmen, fed information to Britain via the French Resistance, and held in safekeeping for the duration, James Joyce’s papers when he fled France in 1940 for Zurich.

Postscript

I displayed the two covers at the Society meeting on 11^th February 2023, and ‘predictably’, fellow member Gerald Marriner stated that he also had a Paris Legation d’Irlande envelope with contents, addressed to Guernsey. He kindly sent me scans of the envelope and letter which is illustrated below.

The envelope is an official Irish Legation envelope imprinted with the title “ÉIRE”.

It is addressed to Guernsey and has been postmarked with a Paris machine cancel dated 10.1.1941.

The back of the envelope has no endorsement by Count O’Kelly.

It bears the smudged end of the machine cancel and a double circle GUERNSEY receiving postmark dated 21 FE 41 indicating that it took six weeks to travel from Paris to Guernsey!

The envelope displays no German censorship although glue marks indicate it may have been opened and resealed.

The contents of the Irish Legation envelope sent to Guernsey.

A typed letter from Count G. O’Kelly de Gallagh

giving his titles

Minister Plenipotentiary

Special Counseller

And the address:

LEGATION D’IRLANDE.

Chancellerie Provisoire

8, Place Vendome,

Paris.

This letter dated, Paris 8^th Jan. 1941, states that “a request for news concerning you has reached the Legation from Dublin”; this was at a time when all correspondence from Dublin should have been routed through the official Irish Legation in Vichy.

Both Gerald and I would be interested to know if any members have any other Irish Legation messages sent via Paris or Vichy to the Channel Islands.

May 1945 Liberation Correspondence Guernsey to Bermuda

A colleague in the Postage Due Mail Study Group based in Bermuda, Horst Augustinovic, forwarded to me copies of correspondence written in the days just before Liberation sent from Guernsey to Bermuda on 9^th May 1945. He thought that the covers were historically interesting.

His guess is that the sender – J. Robin of 106, Victoria Road, Guernsey – may have worked in Bermuda before the war as he seemingly knew several people in St. George’s.

There are three addressees. Figures 1, 1a and 1b relate to the Roberts family, a prominent St. George’s family, having been both store owners and mayors. Figures 2, 2a and 2c concern the Fox family: Fox is a fairly common name in the East End of Bermuda and Gracie obviously worked for the Gosling liquor store (Horst suggests maybe the writer did too). Figure 3 is addressed to Dr. Parker, who Horst thinks must have been his local doctor.

Unfortunately there are no backstamps on the covers, so it is not possible to establish an arrival date in Bermuda.

Jersey – Weiterlauf durch Kriegsverhältnisse verhindert (Forwarding prevented by wartime conditions): Very late fieldpost item dating from 22 March 1945

After the fall of St. Malo on 18 August 1944 German troops on the Channel Islands were completely cut off from the rest of their forces in France.

This new war situation also had its effect on postal links, which for a while came to a complete halt. It was only during the night of 7/8 October 1944 that the first supply flight arrived on Guernsey, a plane belonging to Transportgruppe 30 (TG 30). Because the airport on Guernsey was better equipped than its counterpart on Jersey planes heading for the Channel Islands landed on Guernsey.

Till the end of the war more than twenty of these supply flights were carried out by the Germans. Some of these flights are well documented whereas information about others is rather vague. Leopold Mayr and Michael Wieneke state twenty-three supply flights on pages 138/139 in their handbook “KANALINSELN – Postgeschichtliches Handbuch zur Deutschen Besetzung 1940 – 1945. According to that list the last plane landed on Guernsey during the night of 9/10 April 1945.

Fieldpost was flown in and out whenever possible to boost the morale of the troops. Flown-out fieldpost items are offered on the market from time to time and every specialist collector will have his or her example in his or her collection. Flown-in items are much scarcer and the number of items that have come to light so far might be well under 20.

Hitherto little was known about the final period of these supply flights. In March 1945 the planes of TG 30 could no longer use their home base near Frankfurt/Main because of the approaching American troops. The sub-unit of TG 30 which was responsible for the Channel Islands and the other German fortresses along the French coastline were moved to Reichenberg near Bad Schussenried in southern Germany. Specialists think that the airfield in Reichenberg was used for the two final supply flights.

We know that one plane coming from Guernsey landed between 25 March 1945 and 1 April 1945. Elderly local people from Schussenried remembered the service on Easter Sunday (1 April 1945) in their church, which was richly decorated with flowers from the Channel Islands.

And it is here that the illustrated item plays its part. A German navy sailor, a member of the Jersey harbour protection flotilla (fieldpost number 28529 C), writes a letter (unfortunately the content is lost) to his family in Egern (today part of Rottach-Egern) on Lake Tegernsee south of Munich.

The envelope was stamped on 22 March 1945 at the German fieldpost office in St. Helier on Jersey (see the characteristic letter g). From there the letter was carried on board a ship to Guernsey. However, there was no schedule for a daily service. The weather had to be okay and also Allied activities turned the passage into a dangerous adventure with German boats only running during the night. So the exact arrival date of the letter in Guernsey is unclear.

If the illustrated letter above had arrived in Schussenried by Easter the letter would have been delivered to Egern via Ulm, Augsburg and Munich. It is known that postal links between Munich and the Tegernsee area remained intact until about mid-April 1945.

On the front the illustrated cover bears the boxed instructional cachet “Weiterlauf durch/Kriegsverhȁltnisse/verhindert” (free translation: “Forwarding prevented by wartime conditions”) which is very rare.

So the cover was held back somewhere on the route between Schussenried and Egern on Tegernsee because the final destination could no longer be reached.

This instructional cachet was completely unknown in connection with the Channel Islands. These letters were delivered to the addressees only after the war.

Thus we may well assume that the illustrated item was flown out on the very last (!) supply flight, which landed in Reichenberg on 16 April 1945. A plane had stopped on Guernsey on its way home from La Rochelle, one of the German fortresses on the French coast. Because La Rochelle for the Germans was a far-out fortress supply planes had to make a stop on Guernsey in either direction in order to fill their tanks with fuel. We knew that on 10 April 1945 one plane landed on Guernsey on its way out to La Rochelle, but we had no evidence that the same plane also landed on Guernsey on its way back to Reichenberg. The plane landed in Reichenberg during the night of 15/16 April 1945. For a long time specialist collectors were not sure about this last supply flight, but now we know!

For the relatives in Germany it must have been a pity that the letter did not reach them in time, but for our research the letter is a precious gift. We do not know exactly where the instructional cachet was struck, probably at a Munich office.